Colombian President To Release Rebels In Exchange Effort

Published: June 2, 2007

The government transferred jailed leftist rebels to a holding center on Friday as part of President lvaro Uribe's bid to win freedom for 60 rebel-held hostages, including three American defense contractors and a former presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt.

Mr. Uribe said the prisoners must demobilize, promise not to return to crime and be under the supervision of a foreign government or the Roman Catholic Church to qualify for release on Thursday.

''This is advancing the national government's goal of freeing all the kidnapped people who are in the power of illegal armed groups,'' Mr. Uribe's office said in a statement. The government hopes its ''humanitarian gesture'' will prompt an in-kind response from the guerrillas.

A spokeswoman for the national penitentiary institute said about 190 rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, would be moved to a center in Boyac?rovince while their release applications were reviewed.

Around 1,000 rebel prisoners applied for release, but only 200 -- mainly those imprisoned on minor offenses -- would be eligible, said Gen. Eduardo Morales, head of Colombia's prison system.

Many jailed rebels have rejected the release, however, saying they will accept it only through negotiations between the FARC and the government.

''We are not prepared to negotiate our principles,'' FARC members in Gir?rison in northeast Colombia said in a statement. Talks between the sides over a possible exchange of imprisoned rebels for the hostages have ground to a halt.

Mr. Uribe's plan to release rebels unilaterally comes amid a scandal linking some of his congressional backers to death squads. Families of the kidnapped also have lambasted Mr. Uribe for not doing enough to win the release of their loved ones.